Tag Archives: yoga

Commit your time and money to such life-changing programs as adult weight loss camps only after you have prepared your mind first.

Utilize the Zen mindset as your greatest advantage toward learning new things, especially when reinventing yourself. Make a major lifestyle change by losing weight and keeping it off permanently. Undergo lifestyle training with confidence when you have the powerful tool of Zen working for you.

Zen wisdom was introduced with the popular Kung Fu TV series in the early 1970s. Each episode placed emphasis on the mental and spiritual power that the Shaolin monks taught in their rigorous training. Reference to the young student they called “Grasshopper” would preface words of age-old wisdom.

The Zen mindset is the open mind of a beginner who is eager to learn and try new things without preconceived notions. It is the clear, receptive state for optimal learning and change. Entertain thoughts of success and dismiss all doubt toward goals. Keep your ego in check to enable your progress and avoid distraction or concern about how you look to others while in learning mode. Open yourself to become receptive to new experiences and form new habits along with new likes and dislikes. Replace favorite foods of lesser nutrition value with better choices. Try accepting a greater variety of foods and activities.

Yogis advise training the mind with patience like you would an unruly child. When it roams off task, gently bring it back time and time again. Adjust the incoming thoughts like changing channels on a television. Move quickly past the undesirable thoughts and tune into the positive goal visualization.

Realize that your current lifestyle is sabotaging your pursuit of happiness. Put the ego aside and allow yourself to be a beginner without embarrassment. Do not be concerned with how you are perceived by others. Learn to relax at will and focus on breathing. Use the breathing as a centering tool to prepare for meditation practice. Use goal visualization during this receptive state in meditation.

Train your weaknesses more than your strengths. Develop new strengths by accepting new challenges. By training your weaknesses you gain newfound strengths. Find new ways to become active and stay motivated. Develop a more rounded choice of activities and the likelihood of getting more exercise is obvious. Try not to limit yourself to your same patterns. If you were satisfied with your old ways you wouldn’t be looking for professional weight loss camps, now would you, “Grasshopper”?

The Beatles went to India in 1967 where they met yoga guru, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and were initiated into the practice of TM- Transcendental Meditation.

All but George Harrison took yoga as a passing trend, but his songs reflected the change that caused him to be a more introspective person.

Droves of Beatles fans followed suit and delved into the Eastern practices of yoga and meditation.

By the end of the 60s, focus had moved onto more psychedelic pursuits and focus on the Viet Nam war. However, Hollywood trendsetters still favored the physical yoga practice, which kept the movement alive until it trickled down to a fanatic few by the early seventies.

Yoga did not make another resurgence until the late 90s after the fitness industry finally recognized it as viable “Mind-Body Fitness” exercise and began to promote it.

Yoga was then assigned it to this new category along with Pilates, Tai Chi, and Feldenkrais. To follow the new trend, certification agencies began to market credentials at weekend workshops and marketers began to devise various new themes to brand. All of this is good when it brings new exercisers into activity. However, the departure from the original theme is so rampant that I believe a rant needs to be made on the real meaning of yoga.

The literal translation of the word YOGA comes from the Sanskrit language and it means, “union”.

Sanskrit, like Latin, is a dead language whose origin is key to learning many modern dialects. “Union” of what? That is, the union of body and mind. The yogis believe that the highest purpose of yoga is to realize the Self, the absolute pure spirit of a being. In order to get in touch with one’s self, certain physical postures can be beneficial to maintain the ability to relax and transcend the distraction of your physical body. Only then can an individual relate to an inner spirit or higher calling. This is done when meditation is achieved.

The more lofty form of yoga is Raja yoga, the science of the mind.

Raja yoga uses physical postures of Hatha yoga as preliminary to meditation. Concentration is the primer for Meditation. Meditation is the most advanced form of concentration. Mainstream yoga classes are not conducive to basic concentration, much less meditation. Why? When the room is so hot that all you can think about is tolerating the discomfort while you stare at yourself and others in the mirror, this would be called an outward focus. The focus is on how you relate to the others in the room, how you compare, how your body looks and performs. This all takes place on a very superficial and physical level. This is not conducive to concentration, let alone meditation.

How does yoga teach one the ability to concentrate?

The yoga practice environment must first be appropriate for establishing an indrawn awareness. That means that all outward distractions are kept to a minimum. The classic forms of yoga practice will avoid mirrors in the room at all costs. Existing mirrors need to be covered so that participants are not drawn outward or to the exterior focus. The practice room is dimly lit. The instructor does minimal demonstration if any. After a brief overview of the class format, everyone is encouraged to maintain closed eyes and listen to precise directions. This will heighten awareness and reduce outward distractions. Each attempt to focus becomes more successful with practice.

All yoga class instructions must be verbally concise so as to guide the participant into their most natural interpretation of the physical movements possible.

Intuition toward one’s body will become keen and accurate with the appropriate interpretation of performing physical postures for that individual. This is not possible with excessive visual demonstrations by others. The influence of a visual demo can be very misleading to an individual who may not be able to posture exactly as seen. This causes negative feelings of inadequacy and places emphasis on the performance of others.

If you are still with my diatribe at this point, you will easily understand when I state that most of today’s trendy yoga followers will never make it into a state of indrawn awareness. To focus within, is to develop the true ability to do yoga–to become yoked with body and mind.

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